28 Effortlessly Elegant Summer Gin Cocktails

Summer gin cocktails are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser when you’re seeking the perfect drink to match your summertime celebrations. Served ice cold with lots of fruit twists, the best gin cocktails are always made to be super refreshing.

The herbaceous nature of this light-hearted spirit makes a beautiful backdrop for a variety of awesome summer gin drinks. Here are our top picks that you can make easily at home:

1. Passionfruit Gin Cocktail

The Passionfruit Gin cocktail is one of those summery drinks that always makes a lasting impression thanks to its vacation-ready tropical flavours. Not to mention the fact that it’s super photogenic of course! Listen, we all know that it’s the taste of the cocktail that counts, but if it’s going to look extra amazing in your Instagram selfies, nobody’s going to complain right?

This lovely drink combines dry gin, fresh lemon juice, passion fruit pulp, simple syrup, and club soda to utter perfection. Simply combine the ingredients in a small pitcher or cocktail shaker, mix it up, and serve it up in high ball glasses with lots of ice for optimal enjoyment. Add lemon wedges as an optional garnish if you’re feeling extra fancy. Do you feel like you’re on vacation yet?

2. Strawberry Gin Cocktail

The Strawberry Gin cocktail is like a picnic in a glass, featuring gin, sweet fresh strawberries, zingy lime juice, sugar and club soda, with fresh mint sprigs to garnish. This summer gin cocktail recipe is ideal for prepping ahead of your party in a large pitcher, so you can spend the most time with your guests on the day.

Simply mix everything aside from the club soda and ice together in a pitcher and refrigerate overnight. This extra time will actually give the fresh strawberries some more opportunity to impart their colour and flavour to the drink!

3. Watermelon Gin Cocktail

Watermelon is the ultimate summery fruit, and the Watermelon Gin is most certainly its cocktail counterpart. This refreshingly vibrant drink combines seedless watermelon, gin, lime juice, and simple syrup for a sweet and zingy serving. No wonder it’s considered one of the best beach cocktails—sea and sand not included!

4. Strawberry Basil Gin

Everyone’s list of go-to gin cocktails for summer should leave room for a Strawberry Basil Gin cocktail in our opinion. It walks the fine line between sweet, tart and earthy due to the inclusion of fragrant early basil along with strawberries, lime juice and a good gin. So lovely, yet easy to make!

5. Apple Dream

The Apple Dream truly is dreamy. It comes to the party with oodles of fruity personality, featuring gin, elderflower liqueur, blackberry liqueur, lemon juice and club soda as its main components. Naturally, it’s also as pretty as a picture with a lemon twist and apple slices as garnish, making the most of the summer harvest.

6. Gin Martini

The Gin Martini is about as classy as it comes. This classic summer gin drink combines vermouth and gin, with bitters as an optional third ingredient. Since there are so few components to the recipe, it’s normally best practice to splash on a top-shelf gin, and serve it icy cold. Easy as!

7. Aviation

If you like a gin sour, you’re going to love an Aviation. It’s a little showier, which is perfect for extra special occasions. Sophisticated violet liqueur gives it its trademark violet tinge, alongside the gin, lemon juice, and maraschino liqueur that form the rest of the ingredient line-up.

8. Last Word

If you’re looking for a summer gin drink that’s a bit more grown-up, consider the Last Word. Its ingredients list includes French herbal liqueur, maraschino liqueur, freshly squeezed lime juice and a brandied cherry as a garnish. This prohibition-era flavour profile is super on-trend right now and quite debonair to boot.

9. French 75

So bubbly, so dainty… the French 75 is the super cute sister of the Mimosa. Combining gin, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, and sparkling wine, and garnished with a sugar rim and optional maraschino cherry, it’s the drink’s equivalent of ultimate Parisian chic.

10. 50/50 Martini

Always wanted to try a classy Gin Martini, but weren’t quite up to the straight-up, dry-as-a-bone version? There are ways of easing into it. Case in point, the 50/50 Martini. This version of the popular James Bond drink gives the vermouth and gin equal footing, yielding a cocktail that is not quite as strong, and far less dry as well. Shaken or stirred? You decide.

12. Summertime Spritz

Looking for the perfect summer cup to reach for on the balmiest days? The Summertime Spritz, starring pineapple juice and passionfruit alongside gin and lime, will taste like a holiday to the tropics. Ideal if you want a sweeter alternative to Pimm’s. 

 13. Pink Grapefruit Fizz

Bittersweet, fizzy and super colourful – the pink grapefruit fizz is one of the best gin drinks for summer days and it’s also ready in the blink of an eye! Simply mix gin, grapefruit juice and tonic water and serve cold. 

 14. Pineapple Bombshell

If you want a fruity twist to your summer gin drink, pineapple comes to help to create a sweet and zesty sip to enjoy and cool down in your backyard. Combine gin, pineapple juice, lime and sparkling water and let yourself daydream of warm, tropical beaches.  

 15. Blackberry Gin Smash

Are you in a hurry and need a delicious drink to serve on a hot summer evening? The Blackberry Gin Smash is one of the best gin summer cocktail recipes for a light and fruity drink that will keep your guests fresh and happy. Muddle some fresh blackberries on the bottom of a chilled rocks glass, add ice, tonic water and gin – then watch the magic happen!  

16. Gin-Gin Mule

The Gin-Gin Mule was invented by Aubrey Saunders and has become a symbol of New York’s cocktail Renaissance and the generation of female bartenders linked to it. It’s a spin on the Gin Mojito with the addition of ginger beer. This gingery and minty wonder will become your go-to for your summer BBQs. 

17. Negroni  

The Negroni is considered the classic drink and it also features on the IBA’s unforgettable cocktail list. This red-hued nectar is a spirit-forward sip poured with equal measures of gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth. Jump on the bandwagon and find out what all the hoopla is about!   

18. Gin Bramble  

The Gin Bramble is a crowd-pleaser cocktail that appeals to seasoned cocktail fans and novices alike. It contains gin, freshly squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, and a sweet blackberry liqueur. Garnished with fresh lime and blackberries, it’s deliciously refreshing and a beautiful serve.  

 19. Gin & Tonic  

Once Churchill said, “The gin and tonic drink has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.” Nowadays, Britain’s favourite is only a leisure drink you can find at pubs and sophisticated bars. Thanks to the countless gin flavours available on the market, you can also customise it to your own taste choosing sweeter, fruity gins or more savoury ones. Cheers!   

 20. Tom Collins  

You can never go wrong with a classic and the Tom Collins is one for every season. You can make it at home in a snap, as it requires no bartender tools whatsoever: simply combine gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and club soda. Take one refreshing sip and you’ll understand why this gin cocktail has acquired classic status. 

21. Gin Rickey

This light and zesty Gin Rickey is very quick to make and pairs well with just about anything, from summer BBQ treats to fresh salads and delicious seafood dishes. All you need is Bulldog Gin, lime juice, and club soda. If you want to give your guests a few more flavour options, consider putting out a variety of flavoured mineral water and sweeter juices, like pineapple juice or cranberry juice.

22. Long Island Iced Tea

The iconic Long Island Iced Tea is simple to whip up for a crowd, and the flavour profile makes for a leisurely sip. These tequila summer cocktails are quite potent, so stick to the measurements. For a lighter version, you can also take the amount of liquor down a notch and add more cola.

23. Bee’s Knees

Ostensibly first poured by a bartender called Frank Meier at the Hotel Ritz Paris around 1920, honey syrup was used in the Bee’s Knees cocktail to mask the taste of the questionable gin available at the time. These days, however, this ingredient highlights the beautiful herbaceous nature of the modern-day gin that we are lucky enough to have at our disposal.

More zingy goodness: 12 Honey Syrup Cocktails that Zzzing with Sweetness

24. Southside

Sweetened just enough to be crisp, cool, and refreshing, the Southside cocktail features a unique blend of gin, lime juice, and fresh mint – perfect for sipping on a cocktail night with friends, or a sunny afternoon on the patio.

25. Pegu Club

This epic cocktail twist is a deliciously tart combination of gin, Grand Marnier, fresh lime, and bitters. Frosty, dapper, and deliciously zesty, we suggest serving a Pegu Club cocktail while enjoying a laid-back dinner with good friends.

26. Greyhound

Named after the famous bus service, the Greyhound cocktail is a mix of grapefruit juice, gin or vodka, and ice. It may sound simple but after a 15-hour bus trip across the country over bumpy roads, it’s like sipping on nectar from the gods. Happily, you can now shake it up at home without going on a lengthy road trip!

Read next: 12 Easy Grapefruit Cocktails Recipes to Try

27. Clover Club

Tangy, frothy, bright pink, and pretty as a picture, the Clover Club cocktail is an excellent option for gin lovers who want to expand their drinks repertoire and a fantastic all-rounder drink that suits just about any occasion. We love it as a signature cocktail at fancy shindigs simply because it’s so lovely to look at.

28. Bronx

Layered upon gin, sweet vermouth, and extra dry vermouth, the Bronx cocktail recipe gets its trademark zing from freshly squeezed orange juice, orange bitters, and orange zest. You can also swap the orange juice with blood orange juice to make a bold Bloody Bronx.